


Never Alone With You By My Side

by ItWasAPuzzle



Category: Assassination Classroom, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Midoriya Inko's A+ parenting, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Selectively Mute Character, Supportive Midoriya Inko
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2019-08-24 06:32:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16634792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItWasAPuzzle/pseuds/ItWasAPuzzle
Summary: Inko Midoriya looks up at the apartment complex that is their new home.





	1. Moving Day

**Author's Note:**

> It was only a joke concept, how'd it end up like this, it was only a joke concept.

Inko Midoriya looks up at the new apartment complex that is their new home before looking down and gently squeezing the small hand clasped in hers. Wide, green eyes look back up to her as the child shuffles closer to her legs, their other hand tightly gripping the material of her skirt.  
  
Behind them, the movers truck becomes a hive of activity.  
  
“Do you want to see our new home Izuku?” She asks, her voice calm and gentle. Izuku relaxes slightly at the question as he rapidly nods his assent before he starts to walk up to the double doors before them. His steps fast and slightly unsteady, but trusting in his mom to stop him from falling.  
  
Inko smiles at him as she follows behind him, pushing the door open as his eyes wander over the reception area. Taking note of each potted plant, each numbered box (most of them with names on them), the two sets of staircases and two elevators on the far side of the room before they rest on the desk to the right.  
  
He notes the desk also has two doors behind it, one of which is open, but he mainly notices man with some type of turtle mutation quirk. He’s very green, Izuku thinks before wandering up to the desk as his mother follows him. From his angle down below, he can just see the edge of a shell peeking out over his shoulder.  
  
As his mom speaks to the turtle, his eyes wander around the room they’re in again. He notices that the box numbered one hundred and twelve has the name “Midoriya” emblazoned on it, and of all the boxes surrounding their box only one also has a name.  
  
When Inko takes a set of keys from the man at the desk, she gently squeezes his hand to get his attention. Izuku only has enough time for one thought before he follows his mom to one of the elevators with one of the moving men. He looks back to box one hundred and eleven as the elevator doors close in front of him.  
  
_I hope the Yukimuras are nice._  
  
It takes five minutes to get to their new front door, a small stack of boxes already beside it. He idly notes that the Yukimura’s apartment is a corner apartment as he watches his mom struggle with the lock. Her brows furrow for a second as she pushes against the door before the lock clicks.  
  
Unfortunately, Inko isn’t given the chance to take her weight off the door before it opens and she topples through the doorway. As her shoulder hits the ground she thinks _at least the floor is clean._ Thankfully due to his height, Izuku is only tugged forward slightly before he bursts into giggles.  
  
He’s still giggling when Inko pulls herself off the floor, hands trying to cover up a too big grin in an attempt to hide that it’s him that’s giggling at her. And Inko, like her own father used to do, pretends to fall for it, which causes _more_ giggling.  
  
Neither of them see the person approaching them from behind.  
  
~~~  
  
Akari is very excited for today, Aguri told her they were getting new neighbours today! And that she should greet them as soon as she could! Apparently they even have a kid who is her age!  
  
She hopes that they become _best friends_ and do everything together, she’s missed having friends since they went to the doctors three months ago and they found out she was quirkless. But! A neighbour can’t _not_ be a friend!  
  
Aguri always looks at her funny when she says that, but she has been looking forward to this day since she found out about it. There is _no way_ her big day can go wrong. She hasn’t been wrong about a new neighbour yet! Even if this is their first new neighbour, if she’s never been wrong before that means that she _has_ been right.  
  
And, to make a great day even better, Aguri has been playing with her since they had breakfast. They’ve played Heroes, Colours and made drawings. Akari made her drawing of Aguri using her quirk to colour _everything_ , like purple apples or red bananas and Aguri said it was great and asked to keep it. So of course she said yes, can’t deny her sister of her art!  
  
And when she’s big, she’ll be able to show off all the art Aguri has kept and amaze everyone. She’ll be the best actress, artist and prime minister ever!  
  
But right now is an hour before the neighbours are supposed to get here so she’s making sure her latest masterpiece is finished for her neighbours. It’s of her and her big sister waving and underneath it are the words “WELCOME NEW NEIGHBOURS.”  
  
She was even nice enough to label them with their names to help them remember who is who. She’s using their normal colours though, since it would be hard to show off all the colours they _could_ be, like her current bright red with orange striped hair and pink eyes. She even has green patches on her cheeks!  
  
Her sister is being boring though and using her natural colours, which makes no sense to Akari but she’ll let her be boring. That way the neighbours will know _she’s_ the fun one. Aguri has to be responsible after all since she wants to be a teacher.  
  
She loses her concentration when she hears something outside, so like the great little sister she is, she gets the door for her big sister. But when she opens the door, there isn’t anyone waiting for her, instead there’s two people standing outside the door next door. One who is obviously an adult with long green hair, the other looks about her eyes with the same green hair.  
  
Neither of them have seen her yet.  
  
She rushes back to the table where she was drawing, hurriedly picks it up and runs back to the door just in time to see the adult fall through the door. She stifles her own giggles as she approaches the now empty doorway. Before she enters, she smooths down her shirt, hides her drawing behind her back then walks in. Doing her best to give off that seriousness her parents have tried to teach both Yukimura sisters.  
  
So she waits for as long as she can for one of them to notice her, so five seconds later she yells out an excited “hi!”  
  
She immediately realised that may have not been the best way to greet them when the boy jumps with a yelp and the older woman puts a hand over her heart. _She must be really old, I’ve only seen old people do that,_ Akari thinks as she watches them calm down. Her smile turning more into a grin the longer it takes.  
  
The old woman is the first one to recover and she gently pulls the boy into her arms, rubbing small circles on his back.  
  
“Hello there, I’m Inko Midoriya and this is my son Izuku,” the old woman, Midoriya, says.  
  
Akari nods excitedly, “Hi Midoriya-san, I’m Akari Yukimura! Me and my big sister live next door! We’re neighbours!” She answers, each word accompanied with either a wave or a nod. She pulls her other arm, which had been behind her back the entire exchange, pulling out her drawing and holding it out to show them. “I made you a drawing!”  
  
Midoriya reaches out and takes the drawing, Akari watches in awe as she makes pulling motions with her hand. “Thank you Akari-chan, Izuku would you like to say hi to?” She says to the bundle wrapped up in her arm.  
  
It takes almost a minute for green eyes to peek out from Midoriya’s elbow, in which time Akari has sat down in front of Midoriya and Izuku and crossed her legs. But when he peeks out, an arm snakes out from around Midoriya and waves at her.  
  
Well, it’s not a hi, but Akari will take what she can get. “Hi Izuku-chan, I like your shoes! You also have cool hair! It’s like a _bush_ and bushes are great, you can find treasures in bushes you know!” She says, pumping small fists up and down in excitement.  
  
Every sentence pulls Izuku more and more from his mom’s arm before he’s pulling himself free and nodding along. Eventually, he makes the same motions his mom made, which makes Akari gasp. Is he using his quirk to grab something? She rapidly twists to look behind her for something moving towards him. Blinking rapidly when she realises nothing is moving, she turns back to Izuku in confusion.  
  
Midoriya just chuckles, “sorry for the confusion, Izuku can’t talk right now, that’s his way of asking what your quirk is,” she smiles sweetly at the suddenly nervous girl.  
  
She doesn’t know what to do, everyone starts treating her differently after they find out she’s quirkless. Even her old friends stopped being her friends when they found out. Even though she’s been excited for this day, she’s just now realising that _they might not like her_ because she’s quirkless.  
  
But, looking at Midoriya and Izuku patiently smile at her, perhaps they won’t mind? They _seem_ nice.  
  
“Actually… I’m quirkless,” Akari says, her voice low and quiet as she looks down at her lap. Not wanting to see their expressions change as they realise she’s _wrong._  
  
She misses the way Izuku’s eyes light up and Inko smile grows just a couple teeth wider. She also misses the way Izuku practically _throws_ himself at her, wrapping her up in the biggest hug his small four-year-old self can manage.  
  
For several moments Akari is stunned, eyes blown wide as her head finds a place on Izuku’s shoulder, eyes locking with Midoriya’s questioning _what’s going on?_  
  
Midoriya answers that before she can voice her question, and with those three words Akari beams and wraps her arms around Izuku, hugging him back just as tight. That’s exactly the moment Aguri finds them, two kids hugging on the floor as Midoriya is standing back up.  
  
But both kids are unaware of what’s going on around them, too busy hugging. Each one gaining a slightly damp shoulder. This is a _huge_ moment for them.  
  
After all, neither of them have met someone else who was quirkless as well before.


	2. Unpacking And Finding Presents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Relationship building, present hunting frustration and the power of the spoken word.

It’s been three months since the Midoriyas have moved and so far, Akari has been showed that she _seriously underestimated_ just how close she and her sister would become to their neighbours. At first it had been the occasional sleepover or a shared meal but it rapidly grew from there.  
  
And when Inko finishes unpacking the kitchen in the second week, the amount of shared meals went from about once every three days to at least once a day, sometimes even _every_ meal a day. Akari and Aguri had tried to help unpack as well, but both Inko and Izuku turned them down. They do allow them to help move boxes and hang things up, but for the most part, it’s just the two of them unpacking.  
  
Izuku’s room is the first room to be completely unpacked, several All Might posters are on the walls and half a dozen figurines take up part of a shelf. His All Might bed sheets, pillow case and even a _stuffed_ All Might cover his bed. The first time Akari had set foot in the room, her first thought had been ‘that’s a lot of All Might.’  
  
She had already _known_ Izuku was a fan of All Might, from the two onesies he had and from what he’d told her. Well, he’d written it in one of the notebooks he carries around with him, which she had gotten used to within a day. He still hasn’t spoken, and everyone but Akari knows _why_ and her curiosity is burning up inside her, desperate for answers.  
  
But she waits, because apparently he _could_ talk before. But something had happened that made him stop talking and whatever that something was, it was bad. She could see it in Inko and Aguri’s expression when she had asked them. But if they don’t want her to know, then she won’t be able to find out.  
  
All she _does_ know about it, is that twice a week Izuku goes to talk about it with a doctor with Inko for an hour. And after that he’s always quiet, curling up against Inko’s side and watching cartoons. She doesn’t understand why, but a couple of minutes into the first time it’d happened, she curled up next to Izuku and quietly watched beside him.  
  
It had been… Nice, resting her head on his shoulder and Inko’s hand on her back. Half an hour later, Aguri had sat beside her and quietly did her homework which had made it _nicer_.  
  
She had felt all warm and light inside, and now every time Izuku goes to the doctor they wind up like that.   
  
Needless to say, they’ve seen a lot of cartoons.  
  
But even Akari can see how much better Izuku is getting, from how long he rests to each session to how easily he smiles. He’s _getting_ better, and Akari is happy for her best friend.  
  
So, during that third month, she wasn’t expecting Izuku to be waiting for her after visiting the doctor, TV off and Inko sitting beside him with a camera in her hands. But least of all…  
  
“H-h-hi A-akari-chan,” Izuku says, mouth clearly struggling with each syllable that comes out, with a voice far scratchier than she’d expected. But he _had_ _said_ it.  
  
She ran over in a matter of seconds, an excited scream escaping her as she tackles him with a hug. Practically bowling Izuku over onto the couch cushions as she keeps screaming in excitement.  
  
Inko just watches, smiling sweetly as she stops recording. Right as Aguri sits herself on the floor beside her, shooting a questioning glance towards the Midoriya matriarch.   
  
There’s a slight thud as both Akari and Izuku fall off the couch that’s mostly covered by the quiet giggles of Izuku and the excited babbling of Akari. All that can really be made out are ‘you said my name!’s and ‘ _I can’t believe it!’_ s.   
  
Inko just rests a hand on Aguri’s shoulder and whispers to her “He wanted his best friend and older sister to be there when he tried to speak for the first time.”  
  
Aguri can only smile in response as Akari’s head jerks up to look at Inko. “Really? You wanted me and Aguri-nee to be-“  
  
“Y-y-yes,” Izuku says, interrupting her question. His reward is to get hugged tighter, almost tight enough for it to hurt. But right now, he doesn’t care, he’s just happy.  
  
He’s happy because his mom, his big sister and best friend were all there to see him try to talk again. Even if he doesn’t remember talking before, he knows he _used_ to talk. But he didn’t want to talk for _the first time_ without them all there with him.   
  
So, nestling his face into Akari’s shoulder, he smiles and enjoys all the warmth and love he can feel. And when he starts crying, nobody pays it any mind because they know _why_ he’s crying.   
  
But when he and Akari do separate, his mom still takes his face in her hand and wipes away the tears and mucus. And just like her son, Inko is smiling to.  
  
The next hour is spent with Akari launching words at him as he tries to repeat them, he messes up more times than he doesn’t, but he’s slowly readjusting to talking again. But by the time that hour is up, his throat is _extremely_ sore and he's stuck to writing again.  
  
But, he’s happier than he used to be about writing in a notebook to talk. He definitely prefers talking, but he heeds his moms warning to not overdo it. Even if he feels like his words are going to burst out of him whenever he has a question or _anything_ exciting happens. And whenever Akari is around, it can be constantly exciting.  
  
~~~  
  
Akari frowns at the calendar, which is declaring the date happily. She _should_ be happy that a celebration is right around the corner! But she isn’t for one _important_ reason.  
  
She hasn’t found the best gift for Izuku yet, she doesn’t care if it’s the thirty-first of June, she needs to find _the best present ever_ to give to the _best friend ever!_ And to make matters worse, it’ll be the fourth-month anniversary since they became friends! And Aguri isn’t being helpful, she doesn’t care if doing something new every month is ‘being over the top’ _it’s fun so there!_ And saying that Izuku would be happy with something All Might related isn’t good enough, she wants something special for _his first birthday with them!_ It’s got to blow away every other present he gets!  
  
She’s visited every shop in the nearby area and she didn’t find the _one_ , so she’ll have to settle. Even Aguri has been helping by looking online for something good enough, but she hasn’t either. She has had a few ideas, mainly from when Izuku showed her his hero notes. His drawings of the heroes were really good but his notes on them mainly made no sense to her.  
  
He'd even drawn a hero costume of his own! And that had _really_ caught her attention. But she hadn’t found a way to recreate it, so that idea had been thrown out. She’d even tried to find a hero costume he’d love, like that undergrown hero he showed her his page on. She didn’t understand why he was an undergrown hero, he looked really tall to her.  
  
And she couldn’t get a new heroes stuff because most of them didn’t have any _good stuff_ yet, it was mostly stickers or pencils and stuff. And _none_ of those were good enough for a birthday!  
  
So she was stuck with mainly All Might stuff unless something popped out that’d be great for him.  
  
Stuck in her angry pouting at her calendar, she failed to notice Aguri coming up behind her until she was suddenly picked up from behind. Frustration temporarily forgotten she let out a scream before bursting into giggles as Aguri carried her off to her room. Only stopping when Aguri sat down with her in her lap in front of the computer.  
  
On the screen were several pictures of a blonde man with a blonde girl, both wearing something different in each photo. This prompted Akari to look up to Aguri, questions flying through her mind before she decided to ask the most fitting question.  
  
“Aguri-nee, what’s this?”  
  
“This is an online store for _that_ man,” she said, pointing to the blonde man in each picture. “His quirk lets him manipulate threads, he mainly uses it to make what he’s wearing in the pictures.”  
  
Akari just blinked in confusion before Aguri continued, “in this store, he’ll make anything someone designs for him.” She smiled as realisation spread across Akari’s face, “you said maybe getting Izuku-chan his own costume, right?”  
  
With a grin, Akari started nodding, “and he could make it? In time for his birthday?” Before the older sister could respond, Akari’s eyes widened as she gasped, “could he make _two?_ There was this undergrown hero Izuku-chan showed me last week, he’d be the only one to have anything for that hero! He’d be so impressed if we did both!”  
  
Aguri chuckled as she put Akari back on the ground, brushing her currently pink hair out of her red eyes. “We could do that, Inko-san and I could get the pictures tomorrow whilst you two are at school. Does that sound good to you?” She asked, getting an excited series of nods in return. “Okay than, and Izuku-chan is going to be here in about ten minutes so make sure to calm down a bit. Can’t have him suspecting, can we?” the teen added, with a conspiring wink.  
  
Akari grinned as she nodded as seriously as he could, “I will keep it secret!” she declared before running off, Aguri just rolled her eyes as she heard a thud from outside her room. Wondering when her little sister will learn to not run out of a bedroom in just socks.  
  
_At least she stopped hitting her head when that happens_ , Aguri thought, bookmarking the page she was on before shutting the laptop down.  
  
The next day, when she and Inko were making the reference sheets that would be needed, thoroughly going over every detail on both of the drawings Izuku had made. It didn’t take too long, because no matter how good at art he was for a four-year-old, he was still _four_. And thanks to Aguri’s quirk, they could get an even steady shade across the sketches they had. Inko even had Izuku’s measurements from when Akari and Izuku had measured themselves the day previously.  
  
Aguri was somewhat impressed and a little worried with how easily she had lied about wanting to do it, and with how believable it had been. Surely four year olds should _not_ be that good at lying?  
  
But, as she made out the order for Izuku’s present, the worry slipped her mind. Akari didn’t have a bad bone in her body, so she’d never use that little talent of hers for anything _but_ presents. So she had nothing to worry about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update schedule has been decided AND the few plot difficulties have been overcome, hurray. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧   
> Unfortunately, there are going to be time-skips a lot during their first few years. 4-7ish year olds can't exactly get up to too much.   
> Also, gosh, I never quite understood how weird it feels to have a backlog. Like, just writing some events that happen later than this and than proofreading this before posting felt surreal.  
> I hope you guys have read and enjoyed, next update should be on the 14th.


	3. Birthday Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look at Izuku and Akari's pre-school days and Izuku's birthday is finally here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a day late! I genuinely forgot the 14th was my update day.

Sitting at the back of the class, Izuku gets to see a surprising number of things his classmates probably don’t want him to see. But considering nobody in the class particularly likes him and Akari, they don’t exactly want them to see anything about them.  
  
Like the girl that always sits at the table in the middle of the classroom by the window lets bugs in and then puts them on the chair beside her, letting them roam free in the classroom. Or the boy who sits on her other side who uses his quirk to launch the bugs to other tables with small gusts of wind.  
  
Other kids aren’t so bad, like the girl who sits at the front closest to the door as she can. All she does is draw and occasionally stretch her wings, always checking that there’s somebody behind her before she does. The light brown eye patterns that are on the inside of her wings always seem to end up staring at Izuku when she does it. Or the boy who sits at the same table using his quirk to fingerpaint the air around him in vivid colours.   
  
Those two are probably the nicest to them out of the entire class, admittedly because they kept to themselves, but it’s nicer than how everyone else treats them.  
  
Izuku is pretty sure it’d upset him a lot more if he didn’t have Akari by with him as they practice their spelling, do their maths work and draw. Both of them wearing identical expressions when doing their maths work, neither of them were big fans of numbers.  
  
Their teacher, Tatchito-Sensei, was nice though. When she sees someone being mean to them, she’d make sure they knew it was wrong to bully those who were different and was really understanding of Izuku’s difficulty with speaking. Even if he _was_ able to talk now, he’d still sometimes find himself unable to get words out, if he could get them out at all.  
  
Today, however, was special. This was the end of their first semester and tomorrow was his birthday. So they were no worksheets today _at all_ , so the few (two) of them that wanted to try and start learning before school could only draw or play with the various toys in the room. Izuku was a little upset by that, because heroes had to be _smart_ , and how could he get smarter if they didn’t let him try to learn?  
  
Akari was _barely_ bothered by it, she was pretty sure she knew all she needed to know to achieve her dreams. And if she didn’t, she could always become a penguin instead. Learning was not as fun as Aguri had made it out to be to her and she was all learned out.  
  
Tatchito-Sensei spent the entire day trying to get the entire class to _co-operate_ and be friendly with each other. Some just weren’t interested, others shied away and tried to hide either behind their hands or in their clothes. The worst ones though were the last group, confrontational and yelling when someone didn’t go their way. The last half hour their teacher had given in and just let them do what they want, but had kept an eye out in case any of them tried to break any of the few rules there were.  
  
But, thankfully, everything was peaceful. Or as peaceful as a classroom full of twenty-three four to five year olds could be.  
  
When the school day ended, they were all shepherded out of the door and outside onto the playground to be picked up. Several kids saying bye to their teachers, others immediately rushing to their parents to leave and a few fully prepared to wait until they were finally picked up.  
  
Izuku and Akari were part of the first group, saying goodbye to Tatchito-Sensei before steadily walking towards Inko who was, as always, speed walking towards them with a wide smile on her face. Greeting the two kids with _the best hugs_ before they each took a hand and walked home. Telling Inko about their day and how excited they were for lunch because _they were so hungry they could eat an All Might._  
  
And when Aguri finally got home from school, several hours later and ready to collapse on _somebody’s_ couch. Either their own or the Midoriya’s couch she didn’t really care as she had just _returned_ to school for her second semester that year. But Akari wasn’t going to let her relax, Izuku’s present had arrived that morning and it needed wrapping! And they had gotten the most hero-y wrapping paper they could find just for the occasion.  
  
~~~  
  
The next day started off like most days, with either Izuku or Akari falling out of bed. Unlike most days however, the person who _had_ fallen out of bed immediately standing up and shaking the other awake. This was one of the best parts of what will become the ‘Pre-Birthday Sleepover’ tradition, the victim of the waking up however enjoys being woken up less and less as the years will go on.   
  
But the first time, Izuku spends just a few seconds groggily waking up before realising the day and practically exploding out of bed. Already returning the grin that Akari’s wearing before they burst out of Izuku’s bedroom, they quickly separate. With Akari sprinting back to her apartment to wake up Aguri and Izuku bursting into his mom’s room and jumping onto her bed with an excited yell.  
  
“Mom mom mom! Wake up! It’s time to wake up! It’s my birthday! _Presents!_ ” He shouts, rolling over the lump under the duvet that is Inko Midoriya. Who is slowly blinking the sleep out of her eyes, pretty sure that she hadn’t set her alarm to go off this early.  
  
When she realises that’s _Izuku_ excitedly shouting, and not her alarm screeching at her she sits up. Stretching her arms above her head as her face is slowly revealed by the falling covers. She mumbles a tired “give me a minute Izuku,” as she rubs her eyes before looking at her son. Who has stopped rolling over her and is lying with his head on her stomach, staring at her with open and alert eyes.  
  
He’s staring at her upside down as she glances at her bedside clock, which is cheerfully showing a bright green ‘6:02’ without a care that such a time is unreasonable for any living soul to be awake at. Despite the unreasonable hour, she can’t be too grumpy for too long because with how Izuku stares at her. With eyes so full of excitement, happiness and _love_ and a smile that she swears could light up entire rooms.  
  
Despite the unreasonable hour, looks like that remind her why she’s so glad that she has him as _her_ son. And the light in his eyes has been brighter than it had been for too long before their move, reassuring her that their move _was_ the right thing to do.  
  
So, with a grateful smile, she wraps her arms around Izuku and plants a kiss to the top of his head. The hug is far too short however, because despite how nice it would be to stay in bed, Akari and Aguri are going to be back eventually and they both need to be ready. Can’t celebrate the first birthday Izuku is going to remember from here, especially since his presents were already placed on the kitchen table.  
  
So she says “Okay, I’m up, go get dressed Izuku.” Which is all she can get out before the small body is wriggling away, jumping off her bed to go get dressed.  
  
It's not even fifteen minutes later when the Midoriyas and Yukimuras are arranged on the couch, birthday presents spread across the coffee table and the two youngest practically buzzing with excitement. Although there aren’t many presents, Izuku doesn’t look bothered in the slightest, eyeing each wrapped gift with as much excitement that any five-year-old could possess. His fingers twitching, already desperate to open each of them.  
  
The only thing detracting from how adorable the scene was Izuku’s shirt, which was white and had the words ‘birthday suit’ across the chest. His dark blue shorts with a bright yellow smiling face across one of the legs were not helping. If Aguri and Inko didn’t know better, they’d say he picked those two together _on purpose._  
  
When he’s finally told he can open them, he grabs the closest present and practically tears it open. Revealing the brand new All Might figurine that had released not even two days previously. The label proudly declaring that it was from Akari, who gets tackled in a hug and an excited shout of “thank you I love it!”  
  
The second present, from Aguri, is another figurine of All Might. It if had its regular colours, he’d already own it. But Aguri had made a few adjustments, changing the golden age costume into a replica of the costume Izuku had drawn at the front of his notebook. Dark green with white highlights, and All Might’s hair had been painted to look like the hood his costume design had. But the most unexpected change had been made to All Might’s face. It looked like his own, from the green eyes to the freckles.  
  
_Two presents in and he’s already crying,_ Aguri thought as she was tackled by delighted and emotional five-year-old. Wrapping her arms around the small boy who was already so much like a younger brother to her. It takes almost a minute for Izuku to calm down enough to get to the third present from Inko.  
  
When Izuku opens the third present, it’s a lot slower. But with no less excitement and when it’s open he just gapes.  
  
It’s two rolls of plastic with laminated paper inside, but the small preview that’s typically plastered across the outside of those tubes is turned away from both Akari and Aguri. But they know that whatever the preview is is _big,_ it’s not easy to stupefy Izuku.  
  
When Inko asks Izuku to ‘have a look,’ the Yukimuras are confused until Izuku opens the tube and pulls the assumed poster out, spreading it across the table to reveal just what’s stunned Izuku. And when they see, they’re a little stunned to.  
  
There are four heroes, three of them with excited grins and the fourth with what could only be described as an amused smile. Three of them are gesturing towards the somewhat badly made banner that’s hanging over them, with four words added in red writing that covers the bottom of the poster.  
  
The banner says “Happy birthday Izuku Midoriya!!!” and the caption reads “Good luck future hero!”  
  
Six and a half months ago, three of those heroes had made their debut during a villain attack. The fourth had been the other hero involved in resolving the incident. Their autographs and little messages are on the relatively blank space on either side of the heroes.  
  
Each little message clues Akari just what Izuku had gone through prior to his move next door. Although at the time Akari had been excited to see the three heroes make their pro hero debut, seeing the aftermath of the incident in _one of the victims_ now makes her feel terrible about her feelings at the time.  
  
Present Mic, Midnight and Ingenium’s debuts were suddenly hitting far too close to home. Even with Gang Orca’s intervention it had still been described as one of the worst incidents in the last five years, with damages that had taken nearly two weeks to repair.  
  
Izuku had nearly been a part of the near one hundred lives lost that day, was he one of the _fifty-six_ that had gotten hurt?  
  
Akari almost misses when Izuku takes out the second poster to reveal a limited edition All Might poster, with all of his costume designs on and a “PLUS ULTRA” across the bottom.  
  
Before Izuku can tackle his mom with a hug, he himself is tackled by an emotional Akari who is doing her best not to cry but failing horribly. It takes nearly ten minutes for her to calm down enough to let him open his final present, but she’s now sitting a lot closer than she had been before.  
  
The final present proudly says that it’s from ‘Akari, Aguri and Mom,’ and it’s wrapping paper is decorated with tiny cartoony versions of the top twenty heroes, with each of them posing in front of their latest rank number. And from the way that Izuku’s been eyeing the paper, he really likes the wrapping paper too, which makes the teen and mother glad they wrapped it in such a way that it could be unwrapped without tearing it.  
  
Nobody is surprised that Izuku had noticed that and managed to reveal the plastic packaging underneath. The note that had been attached to the outside happily declared ‘happy birthday from the Nakamuras!’ in what could only be described as the happiest ink and writing combination the two had ever seen. Which is why the note had been left on.  
  
Izuku shoots curious glances towards the three around him, as all that he could see through the plastic was some kind of black fabric-y thing.  
  
Inko had already grabbed a pair of scissors, ready to cut open the top so Izuku could pull the contents out for when Izuku asked. Which he readily did so when he saw them in her hand.  
  
Not even a minute later, Izuku is pulling them out of the plastic wrapping, which causes the black thing to unravel. Revealing stitched on white layers to represent the scarf the hero wore and letting the green be revealed as it slid out onto Izuku’s lap.  
  
He stares at it for several seconds, already recognising the white highlights before he unfolded it. Revealing the dark green ‘jumpsuit’ that he had designed, turned into a onesie that he could already wear.  
  
For several moments all is still, apart from the slight wriggling of Akari as she watches and waits for the feedback on the present idea she’d had. None of them are really surprised when Izuku practically explodes into tears, nor when Inko gently pulls him into her lap as he starts hiccupping out ‘thank you’s. Akari and Aguri are caught a little off guard when he makes grabbing motions towards the two of them.  
  
But when Akari climbs onto Inko’s lap and Aguri sits close enough to wrap an arm around the two smaller children. Aguri in her Kunugigaoka school uniform, Akari with her Totoro pajamas and Inko in her usual shirt, skirt and cardigan combination all hold the crying Izuku, each of them with warm smiles. Or in Akari’s case, an excited grin.  
  
They sit there for several minutes as Izuku cries himself out, his hero costume still gripped tightly in his hands. He’s almost fully cried out when Akari says the one thing that could restart the tears at this point.  
  
“You’re gonna make a _great_ hero Izuchan.”  
  
It takes several seconds for it to sink in, that _Akari_ believes he can become a hero. That neither Aguri or his mom tried to correct her, so _they at least_ partly believe he can become a hero and to back that up even _more_ they brought him a copy of his hero costume.   
  
So, naturally, he starts crying again.   
  
~~~  
  
After that, breakfast is relatively quiet. Izuku’s throat is a little too sore for talking so he’s back to writing to talk and Akari is still a little overwhelmed by what she pieced together. If she’s right, she is going to give _so many hugs_ to Izuku, but she can’t find out until she asks Inko and she can’t ask Inko in front of Izuku. That’d be _mean._  
  
So she holds her questions back as Aguri and Inko talk over their heads, Inko with one hand on Izuku’s back and gently rubbing and Aguri furiously writing with one hand to finish _one last piece of homework._  
  
Another example of why Akari doesn’t need more school, she doesn’t want to do school work _at home_. Home is for good things, not school. School belongs at school.  
  
She shuffles closer to Izuku, who is now proudly wearing his hero costume as he happily eats. A notepad and pencil by his side, the few words he’s said since he went back to mute written on the current page.  
  
“Who are the Nakamuras?” “COMFY” “I feel like a real hero!” and “Thank you! I love them! And I love you!” are just a few of the things written down in an excited scrawl. There’s also a small picture of Izuku in his costume with a hand raised upwards and a wide grin.  
  
Occasionally, Aguri or Inko shoots the pair a look, not that either child notices, but the two have noticed that Akari is quieter than usual. Normally she’s happy to talk and ask questions all through any meal, except on the few occasions she’s been tired at dinner. So naturally, they’re concerned about a quiet Akari, it’s new and uncharted territory, especially if something has upset her they’d have no idea how to make it right.  
  
So, naturally when breakfast is over and Izuku volunteers to help Inko with the dishes, Aguri takes her younger sister aside and out of earshot. She notices the looks Akari sends back to the Midoriya’s but doesn’t pay them much mind, she’s about to find out what upset her little sister and help her. It’s like her _job_ as big sister, especially since their parents are rarely around.  
  
Once they’re back in their apartment, she grabs her schoolbag, pushing the homework she had inside and checking its contents before asking as calmly as she can.   
  
“Akari, are you okay? Is something wrong?” The younger sister looks up as her eyes begin to water, hands bunching up the dress she wore. It’s a matter of moments before Aguri is on her knees, wrapping her arms around Akari and holding her tightly.  
  
Aguri feels her sister grab onto her shirt as she starts to cry, “Is what the heroes said on that poster true?” she asks between hiccups. “Was Izuku caught in that big attack?”  
  
She freezes before running her fingers through the younger’s hair, “yes he was,” she whispers. Which only makes the tears worse as Akari lets out a small sob. “It’s why they had to move, apparently their old home was damaged during the attack. And during Izuku’s stay in the hospital they found proof that someone had been hurting him.”   
  
The older Yukimura pulls the younger onto her lap as she sits on the floor, wrapping Akari in as much warmth as she can. “Izuku doesn’t remember anything, so you can’t tell him, okay Akari?” When she gets a vigorous nod she relaxes slightly. She doesn’t stop running her fingers through her hair but now they just sit in the quiet of their apartment, the only sounds were of Akari’s crying and Aguri’s occasional ‘shhh’s and ‘he’s okay now Akari’s.  
  
When Izuku sees Akari ten minutes later, he’s a little confused about what he did to deserve being tackled in a hug like that. He’s not complaining, he _loves_ hugs, he’s just not sure what he did to get a hug like this. And he definitely doesn’t understand why his mom just picks the two of them up like that, puts them on the couch and puts on the TV and then sits beside them acting like nothing is out of the ordinary. Because this is very _unordinary_ , not bad, just… Odd.  
  
But he’ll take the hug, hugs are great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3:30 in the morning is not the best time to proof read.  
> But! Rio Nakamura has technically made it into the fic! Technically, not enough to get tagged yet though, unfortunately.  
> And unfortunately, the filler OCs that are meant to just fill up background space are appearing again. One of them even got a /name/ how dare they.  
> And, finally, Akari finds out What caused Izuku to move. Whereas anyone reading this only has it alluded to.   
> Now, I wish I could say that the next update is on the 28th, but chances of me getting time to proof read properly enough for me to feel ok posting are going down rapidly. I'll try, but chances are the next update is in January, gonna aim for the 4th.


	4. Sweets, Park Meeting And Aguri's Homework

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An adventure in the park goes not quite as expected then Aguri's homework is scares Izuku.

Akari sends a nod to Izuku as they both pick It up, the material of the wrapping crinkling beneath their fingers as their grip tightens on each of their items. This time, for sure, this time they’ll get It passed them and get to enjoy the fruits of their labour. They can practically _taste_ victory.  
  
So, walking up to the unsuspecting cart guards, their treasure hidden behind their backs. Their ill intent hidden behind bright and innocent smiles, both positive that _this_ time they’ll succeed.   
  
But as soon as one of them reaches up to put the goods into the cart, both of them feel a tug on what they’re holding. Izuku’s is pulled immediately from his grasp and Akari _tries_ to keep a hold of them, but hers escape her hands as well. There’s a small laugh above them as one of the cart guards takes hold of their _rightfully earned reward_ and puts them back on the shelf.  
  
“Maybe next time you two,” Inko says with a smile as she pushes the shopping cart towards the cereals further down the aisle. Eyeing the two large bags of lollipops they had tried to sneak in this time as the two children both sigh in defeat.  
  
Behind them, Aguri just grins, “you were too daring. Those were some _big_ sweets you were trying to sneak in, try smaller and you might succeed.” She tousles both of their hair, Izuku nods in reply already thinking of a new plan for their next trip.  
  
Akari just pouts as she follows the other three, forlornly watching as the lollipops they’d tried to get get further and further away. Much to both Inko and Aguri’s amusement.  
  
The only other parents shopping around them watch in wonder, as their kids are never this well behaved when they don’t get sweets. They are however, slightly confused by Aguri’s words.  
  
But they watch on as the green haired woman tells the green haired girl, “Remember Akari, one attempt a trip. So no trying a second time today.” To which the girl replies with a sullen nod, taking the teenagers hand as the boy starts saying something they can’t make out.  
  
Because, what _was_ that?  
  
~~~  
  
_This time for sure!_ Akari thinks, grabbing a much smaller box of pocky, today it’s just Aguri guarding the basket and she isn’t as hard to get passed as Inko is. She watches as Izuku grabs a box of cookies shaped like dinosaurs, _excellent choice Izuchan!  
  
_They strike when Aguri is comparing the list in her hand to the labels in front of her and the sounds of both pocky and cookies landing in the basket makes her look down. When she sees the newly added sweets to the basket, she just grins and proudly tousles their hair.  
  
“Great job! Now, I won’t tell if you don’t, but go grab a bag of those lollipops you tried to get last week.” The words have barely left her mouth before Akari has rushed off to grab them, an eager grin on her face as she skips back to her sister and Izuku, reward nestled safely in her arms.  
  
When they return back to their apartment, Inko merely raises an eyebrow at Aguri before she replies “they’re cunning for a four and a five-year-old. I’m no match for their wits.”  
  
She then motions towards the box of macarons that the two are helping themselves towards. Already smiling in amusement as Aguri just shrugs.  
  
“I don’t know what to tell you Inko-san, I appeared in the bakery with no knowledge how I got there. May as well treat them for being _that_ sneaky, I didn’t see it coming.”  
  
Inko just rolls her eyes as she helps herself to a macaron, trying to suppress a small laugh at Izuku’s shocked expression and Akari’s look of outrage. “Of course, just be sure not to eat too many you two.”  
  
The pair chorus that they won’t as Aguri heads into the Yukimura apartment to put the groceries away.  
  
~~~  
  
Wherever Akari goes, Izuku follows. That’s something that started as soon as the two met, ever since then the two have practically been joined at the hip. Sometimes, they don’t go that far, even during their trips to the park they stay relatively close to either Inko or Aguri. But today they venture further afield than they ever have before.  
  
Today, they explore the _edges_ of the park, whilst Inko watches from closer to the middle. And what do they hope to find at the edge of the park? Well, Akari is adamant about finding adventure. Izuku is more curious to see if the park actually _does_ have an edge, he’s never seen it before and is pretty convinced that finding the edge counts as an adventure in and of itself. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll find something _cool_ out there.  
  
Like maybe some bugs, bugs are pretty cool.  
  
They just about reach the edge when there’s a resounding ‘ _shhh_.’ Immediately, Akari and Izuku are gripping onto each other as hard as they can, bushes aren’t meant to shush people! Neither of them certainly haven’t been shushed by a _bush_ before of all things, which bush even did that? There’s a lot of bushes around, and even a couple of trees. Hopefully it wasn’t a tree, trees are a lot bigger than a bush and would probably hurt more.  
  
Their thoughts are quickly answered when a small girl with _antennae_ pokes her head of a bush, her green eyes locking onto the pair as she steps out of a bush with a box in their hands. “You scared them away!” She accuses, “I’d almost got them when you two came and scared them!”  
  
Izuku and Akari are, of course, still calming down from the shock that it _wasn’t_ a bush or a tree that shushed them. It probably doesn’t help that the girl didn’t say _what_ she was trying to get in her box. That’s not even mentioning her _eyes_ , what kind of quirk makes eyes one solid colour?   
  
The first to recover is Izuku, who immediately hones in on the girl’s quirk. “Are the antennae your quirk? What do they do? What does your quirk do? Do they do what bug antennae do?” Akari just grins as the new girl backs away from the still questioning Izuku, it’s nice to hear Izuku get excited about quirks and the sudden look of confusion on the girl’s face makes it even better.  
  
She calmly sits down as Izuku takes out one of his notebooks and a pencil, she’s still not entirely sure where he keeps them, and starts making what notes he can before the girl hesitantly answers and then explains her quirk. Getting more excited as she explains and Izuku excitedly responds to every bit of information he gets.  
  
She watches as the girl’s antennae start to arch forward until their practically poking Izuku’s hair, neither of them paying attention as they talk about her quirk. Izuku asking things like ‘how far can she feel vibrations from?’ (Twenty feet? Wow!) and ‘Do they help you hear?’ (“Not a clue!” the girl happily replied.) Akari may not be as excited about quirks as Izuku, but _he_ thinks they’re cool, so she’ll always let him indulge whenever he finds a new quirk. There aren’t enough people willing to let him ask questions about quirks, so she’s always thankful when he finds someone who indulges him. Although the _amount_ of questions is sometimes a little… Excessive.  
  
Akari has well and truly zoned out, pulling leaves off a nearby bush and tearing them into small pieces before throwing the remains skywards. Izuku and the antennae girl are still talking about her quirk, her expression slowly losing excitement as the questions keep coming.  
  
Eventually the girl managed to stop the questions by asking about _their_ quirks, the silence that followed was almost deafening. Even Akari had stopped playing with the leaves, Izuku’s eyes darted around the small clearing nervously. Neither of them are unfamiliar with the main reaction to _what_ they are, but surely they’d never see this girl again? It wouldn’t _matter_ if she was the same as everyone else, right?  
  
With a small gulp, Izuku summoned what courage he had and said “I-I’m, um, q-quirkless.” He closed his eyes before continuing, “I d-don’t have a-mmm, a quirk.”  
  
“Neither do I,” Akari said, getting up to stand beside her friend, taking his hand in hers. Wearing the most _intimidating_ expression she had in her arsenal, but considering she was four and had bits of leaf in her hair, wasn’t intimidating at all. Both kids knew _how_ she’d react to that piece of information and weren’t looking forward to it.  
  
But, unlike expectations, she didn’t frown, seem confused or angry at all. She just calmly blinked before going “My grandads quirkless to!” with a small, excited jump, which threw off both Izuku and Akari. That’s definitely a new reaction to their quirklessness.   
  
A shout came from behind them, which startled all three of them before the girl grinned, waving as she ran past them. “That’s my dad, gotta go! Bye!” She calls out over her shoulder, leaving the two quirkless kids behind. They barely register the second shout of ‘Hinano’ as the girl disappeared into the bushes. Both of them still trying to register _what just happened._  
  
Later, when Inko asked if they had fun, Akari just replied “I think we met an alien pretending to be a girl who was collecting stuff in a box.”  
  
Inko just smiled and asked to hear more about the alien like they’d _imagined_ it, but it does sound pretty unbelievable. Her expression when Akari said that the alien didn’t think being quirkless was bad was confusing though. She expected the ‘being quirkless isn’t bad Akari’ but her _expression_ looked… Something not happy.  
  
_Weird._  
  
~~~  
  
Izuku stared at the maths before him, the five-year-old knew there was a difference between the maths he did and the maths Aguri did, but he didn’t expect it to be _this_ different. That’s a lot of numbers, and a lot of letters for _maths_ , why does this maths have letters? Letters is for other subjects, maths is for numbers!   
  
He turns to watch Aguri as she works on her copy, the _main_ copy, of the homework, occasionally pausing before writing _numbers and letters_ onto it. Her brows furrowed slightly in concentration as her pencil alternates between hovering over the page and shooting across it as fast as she can write, which is a lot faster than Izuku can write.   
  
It doesn’t help him understand the letters, but it is interesting to watch. Watching Aguri do her homework makes Izuku nervous for when _he’s_ old and doing homework where maths has numbers, but he hopes he’ll have a great teacher like Aguri to help him understand. But for now, he’s enjoying actual maths with shapes and just numbers.  
  
Instead of going back to his copy of that homework, he looks up to the ceiling of the Yukimura apartment and slowly swings his legs. Wondering when Akari and mom will get back from whatever it is they’re doing, nobody really told him what they were doing which doesn’t really make any sense. They don’t really keep secrets from each other anymore. Well, he still hasn’t told Akari about why they moved, but he doesn’t remember that so it isn’t his fault.  
  
He looks at the calendar on the far wall, which proclaims that it’s the third of September. To his knowledge there isn’t really anything of _note_ going on today. It’s a Saturday, which doesn’t really give any clues either, perhaps they went to get groceries? But surely they’d _tell_ him that and let him come! But Akari had mentioned something about an ‘audition’ that was happening today, but what was one of those? He’d ask Aguri, but the way she checks her cellphone every so often has to mean he’ll be told _soon_.  
  
This time, instead of looking at the old people maths in front of him, he lay on Aguri, wriggling himself under her arms and practically sitting on her lap to stare at _her_ old people maths. A small laugh above him as she rose her arms let him know that she was okay with it, and if he lay like this, if he got bored to sleep he’d already be comfy! He truly was an expert at planning ahead.  
  
He likes Aguri, he really does. She’s cool and teaches him new words and her quirk is _great_ , she once gave him black streaks in his hair whilst Akari had dark green streaks so they looked _identical!_ It was a lot of fun tricking mom and Aguri that they were each other.   
  
So, he sat there, watching as Aguri answered question after question and the paper became more full, the quiet of the apartment apart from the soft scratch of pencil on paper slowly lulling Izuku into a gentle doze.   
  
Soon enough Aguri was putting her pencil down, moving slowly and carefully to not jostle the child practically curled up on her, she put her school supplies back into her bag. What would normally be done in a matter of hurried seconds felt like it took _minutes_ , Izuku may not be a light sleeper but even he’d be woken up by her usual bag packing.  
  
When her schoolwork was back in the bag, she just had the problem of putting her bag in her room without waking him up. A problem she quickly abandoned, that’s a task for _later Aguri_ rather than now Aguri. Instead, she simply placed her bag on the floor beside her feet and checked her phone, sending a quick text to Inko to ask how everything was going.  
  
Honestly, she’d much rather _she_ was there, but an adult was required to take Akari and thus it had to be Inko. Even if Inko _wasn’t_ her mother or guardian, she filled the role a lot better than her own mother did. It should have been _her_ taking Akari to her first ever audition, it should have been _her_ holding Akari’s hand and offering encouragements before she did it. And if not _her_ than their _father_.  
  
She took a deep breath, that line of thought always spiralled into the same downward spiral, she didn’t need that now. She needed to think _positive_ , Akari had been excited this morning. It was a minor role in a regular television drama, but it’d be _experience_. And Aguri had spent weeks looking up how to make a start as an actor for her sister, she’d even started putting together a _resume_ for her which was an experience in and of itself. Today was Akari’s first real attempt at the career that had fascinated her since she first saw something featuring real people.  
  
Aguri knew that making a start at such a young age was typically a bad idea, but if it paid off maybe Akari would get what she never did get. She could get their parents support, which would mean the world to Akari.  
  
When her phone rumbled in her hand, she was immediately opening Inko’s text.  
  
_Inko: Akari-chan did great, they said they’d get back to us!_ (Sent at 4:37PM)  
  
Attached was a photo of Akari, clearly taken by Inko as Inko’s jumper partially blocked where Akari’s legs would be. Who was caught mid skip, beaming up at the camera.   
  
Smiling softly, Aguri sent back a picture of Izuku sleeping on her, his face practically hidden in the hood of his hero costume. All that could really be seen of his face was a few stray curls poking out from underneath.  
  
Fifteen minutes later, Izuku was very rudely woken up by Akari poking his nose, repeatedly. When he finally registered who was in front of him he jumped off whatever was unfortunate enough to be beneath him, bouncing around Akari as he asked questions which Akari enthusiastically answered.  
  
Aguri however, was having some regrets as she rubbed her legs and stomach.  
  
Two weeks later, they find out Akari didn’t get the part and it takes almost ten minutes to calm her down, and even then it’s several hours before she’s back to her usual self.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Managed to do a proper proofread of this chapter /early/ how about that, and right before I'm about to be super busy again. So for the next update I'm gonna aim for the 19th/26th range, I could give a better guess but the next five-ish chapters are like 2/3rds to 3/4ths done.  
> But, asides from the iffy update schedule, look at that. Akari's making steps towards her future acting career and the kids met someone who doesn't care their quirkless. (Even if they may never meet them again.)  
> So, happy new years! I hope you enjoyed this update.


	5. Tutoring Arrangements And Playtime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A tutor is arranged for Akari, it's a less than pleasant experience.

Akari wishes that it was Christmas again, even if it was just over a month ago it was much better than what today was going to bring. Even if she didn’t remember the last time this had happened, just how Aguri was acting was more than enough to clue Akari into what it would be like.    
  
It wasn’t every day, after all, when their parents came to visit. They hadn’t even visited when they found out Akari was quirkless, but now they were visiting their ‘home’ and Aguri was handling it the same way she’s handled every other previous visit. By running around the apartment, making sure everything was clean and tidy, checking on Akari and making sure her hair was still braided and her dress on straight and trying to keep herself ‘presentable’ at the same time.   
  
The sight of Aguri practically panicking was making Akari feel extremely nervous as well, making her want to burn off some energy but she had to keep sitting where she was ‘supposed’ to sit. She wasn’t sure how long their parents would be there for, but she did know they had other appointments today as well.   
  
So, she stayed as still as she could, watching her older sister fret and worry over everything that could possibly be seen. Then every five minutes, asking Akari if she _remembers_ the rules of interacting with their parents. Normally, she’d be annoyed by having to repeat them, but this entire day just feels _wrong_ , so she isn’t. She just sits and stews in her own nerves. Running through the rules in her head to make sure she memorises them.  
  
Rule one, don’t speak unless asked to.  
  
Rule two, be respectful.  
  
Rule three, stay seated unless given permission to stand.  
  
And rule four, refer to them as ‘mother’ and ‘father’ and nothing else.  
   
Those were the four big rules of when their parents visit and she doesn’t want to find out what happens if she breaks them. So she sits, waits and watches as Aguri checks everything ‘one last time.’   
  
After seemingly hours, they finally arrive with a series of four knocks, Aguri stills, takes a deep breath and unlocks the door. Akari’s hands clench as she makes eye contact with each parent whilst she and Aguri say in almost perfect unison.  
  
“Greetings mother, greetings father.”  
  
~~~  
  
Izuku had watched the two adults as they entered the Yukimura apartment, he’d heard how Akari and Aguri had greeted them so he _should_ be calm. They were their parents, nothing to worry about, parents were _nice_ and helped look after you.   
  
But those two didn’t look nice or warm or anything a parent was supposed to be. They looked cold and scary, not at all like Akari or Aguri or mom. And the way the two sisters spoke to them just didn’t sound right, but he can’t quite put his finger on why.  
  
It… Makes him nervous, he knows that they probably _won’t_ do anything to them but the two adults… Izuku couldn’t understand what was going on and it was confusing him. Causing him to twist his shirt between his hands, so when his mom asked if he’d like to try and help cook lunch he was more than happy to join her. Shutting the door behind him as he went back inside.   
  
Aguri and Akari would be fine.  
  
~~~  
  
Akari feels Aguri sit next down next to her, the couch dipping slightly under her weight as their parents continued to approach. Not yet saying anything as they approached, calmly sitting on the two chairs that Aguri had set up across the coffee table from them.  
  
She watched them as her father put his suitcase down whilst her mother placed her own suitcase on her lap, opening it and pulling out several pages and two small plastic cards. When she shut the suitcase with a firm _click_ she turned her yellow eyes towards Akari.  
  
“So, I heard you wish to be an actress?” She asks.   
  
“Yes! I saw one on TV talki-“ A hand rests on her knee and gently squeezes, “I mean, yes mother?” she turns to look at Aguri to see if she answered right, receiving a slight nod in return.  
  
“Yes, I have heard about _why_ you want to be one from Aguri.” Their mother looks down at one of the papers in her hands, “did you write your resume or did Aguri do it for you?”  
  
Akari’s hands tighten at her sides, fisting up the material of her dress. “Aguri-nee was the-“ another squeeze “Onee-san was the one who wrote it and let me read it after.” _Another squeeze_ , “mother.”  
  
Their mother removes the top page, placing it on the bottom of the small stack in her hands before she spoke again. “Aguri, have you told Akari how hard she’d have to work to become a _successful_ actress that would be capable of living on her own when she’s an adult?”   
  
“Yes mother.”  
  
“And has she had any _lessons_ on acting, or learnt any skills that would prove useful to her to make up for her condition?”   
  
As Akari lowers her head, deciding that staring at her knees would be the better option, her eyes beginning to sting, Aguri answers as neutrally as she could “no mother.”  
  
There are several seconds of silence, the shuffling of papers sounds _so loud_ before her mother states “those papers are subjects we recommend she studies, as well as several skills she will find useful in the acting world. As well as each of their prices, you will also find the contact details of the two tutors that are ready to begin teaching her if Akari decides to follow this fantasy.”  
  
“Thank you mother,” they say, Akari slightly delayed to Aguri. Akari is still refusing to look up, she doesn’t want to _see_ the expression that went with that tone.  
  
The two cards are placed on the coffee table in front of Aguri, the sound they make is quiet but seems to echo in the apartment. “One of those cards is for the account where the money for these lessons will be deposited once a week, the other holds my secretary’s details if you need to contact us with further queries about this arrangement. Is that understood Aguri?”  
  
“Yes mother.”  
  
“While we are here, Aguri an update on the progression of your studies?” Their father asks.  
  
“They are within the standards you set for me, my worst subject is English at an eighty-seven on my last midterms and maths was my highest with ninety-two father.”  
  
Akari peeks up from her lap just in time to see their father nod and reply ‘that is acceptable’ before both parents stand.  
  
“Now, if you will excuse us we have another appointment that we must get to, keep us informed of Akari’s progress on her… _job_ , if you will Aguri. Goodbye.” Their mother says, their father repeating the goodbye as they make for the door.  
  
“Goodbye mother, goodbye father,” the sisters parrot back, Akari once more slightly delayed in her parting words.  
  
When the door finally shuts behind them, Aguri wraps her arms around Akari in a tight hug. The younger sister barely aware of her sister’s arms around her as she stares after her parents. _Were they… Always like that?_  
  
She almost doesn’t notice how much _lighter_ the room feels now they’ve left. Less closed in, more relaxed and less… Something else, something else that she doesn’t know or understand she just knows she _doesn’t like it_. And that realisation almost has her crying in her sister’s arms, her breath shakey and her small frame curls itself up against her older sister’s side.  
  
Twenty minutes later, Izuku finds them still sitting like that, curled up together with Akari on Aguri’s lap. He thinks it’ll be better if they keep napping for a while as he turns back to his apartment.  
  
~~~  
  
“Help me, help me!” Inko calls out, trying to sound as scared as possible. She tugs the blanket covering her shoulders up over her head as the door _bursts_ open _heroically_.   
  
Inko fails to suppress her grin as she hears two almost simultaneous calls of ‘I am here!’ The last few words they call out jumble up slightly, but it was almost certainly the names of the pro heroes they’re wearing onesies off. With Izuku in his Eraserhead and Akari in her new Midnight onesie. (Thankfully, the second edition of her costume and not her _debut outfit oh my goodness_.)  
  
Peeking over her shoulder, she sees they’re in almost identical poses, with both their arms raised in a cheer. Just as she sees them, Akari lowers her arms and starts looking around the room with a serious expression on her face. Obviously pretending to try and find her. (And her expression is _very_ on point, the lessons that she was signed up for clearly paying off!) As soon as Izuku points towards the blanket Inko is hiding under, Akari’s expression lightens as she grins a very _Midnight_ grin, they may need to pay closer attention to what the two see when they aren’t looking.  
  
“Alright Eraserhead, you save the civilian and I’ll cover you!” she says, waving an arm in a very obvious motion of snapping a whip at nothing. As soon as the words have left her mouth, Izuku is barrelling straight towards her and by the time Akari has finished her motion he’s barrelled straight into Inko’s back, wrapping his arms around her as far as they’d go.  
  
“Hi mom! _Shhhh_ , we’re rescuing you,” he says, the latter half in a stage whisper as he put a finger over his lips.  
  
With an attempt at a serious nod, she follows behind Izuku on her hands and knees in her best go at stealthily escaping. It’s a matter of moments before they’re out of her bedroom and into the hallway, at which point Izuku and Akari excitedly throw their hands up with a cheer of ‘we did it!”  
  
Almost immediately, Akari turns to Inko and asks “since we saved the day, can us heroes have some cookies?” When she takes a few seconds to ponder, she adds “would you say yes if we said we didn’t have _any_ whilst you were hiding?”  
  
With a slight grin, Inko asks “did you really?” Choosing not to say anything about the crumbs she can definitely see on Izuku’s cheeks. When Akari nods in answer, she turns to Izuku and asks “did you really not have _any extra_ cookies at all today?”  
  
Caught under his mom’s eyes, Izuku looks down and shuffles his feet, “n-no?” When she leans down lower and asks ‘what was that?’ he takes a few seconds longer before going “erm, no?” After that, he makes the mistake of looking up at Inko as she smiles, he watches as she raises a hand to his cheek and gently rubs.  
  
“Then where did those come from?” She asks as the crumbs fall onto his front. At her question, the two five year olds look down.  
  
“We’re sorry Inko-san, we were just _really_ hungry…” Akari says, shuffling forward to wrap her arms around as much of Inko as she can.  
  
With a soft sigh, Inko musses up their hair, “how about I just make lunch instead of just having cookies?”  
  
The two brighten up as they look up at her grinning, “Yes please! What’s for lunch?” They practically dance around her as she goes to the kitchen, wondering _what_ is for lunch. She’ll just be feeding the three of them today, as Aguri is spending the day at a friend’s house doing homework, so she _could_ cook a bigger lunch and Izuku and Akari have definitely started to eat more than they were a few months ago, especially Akari.  
  
With a decision made, she tells them to go play as she gets lunch ready and she watches them run off with a soft smile. It’s been just over a year since they moved here and so much has changed, for the better. Izuku _smiles_ more, he’s picked up interests outside heroes thanks to Akari and the nights where he comes to her with tears in his eyes are happening less and less often.  
  
So, as she listens to the laughter of her son and his best friend, she lets her smile grow as she hums a soft melody to herself. Feeling safe in the knowledge that the Yukimura’s would always be there for her and Izuku, that nothing will happen to the little spot they’ve made for themselves here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter five and the Midoriyas and Yukimuras have known each other for a year now. And yes, I skipped Akari's fifth birthday, I feel bad for that. But she will get a birthday chapter. Just not her fifth birthday.  
> The part I'm most nervous about is the parent part, I hope I got what they're like across properly.  
> The next chapter will hopefully be on the 2nd, but if not than I'll aim for the 9th. Life should be calming down either next week or the week after.


	6. It's The Little Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little night time cuddle with a big sister, a little bit of yoga with Nanami-sensei and bracelets.

There are few things that could get Aguri Yukimura to wake up before seven in the morning on a weekend, some of these she reasons are shared by her many neighbours; such as fires, villain attacks and a break in. Some of them which are probably not as frequent problems for her neighbours, such as knowing her parents are visiting that day, or her sister’s tutor is visiting early. There is, however, one thing that can get her to wake up at any time that she shares with her closest neighbour Inko Midoriya, which she finds herself blearily staring at at _three thirty_ , the sun isn’t even up yet but she’s quickly gaining her senses as she realises that Izuku is _crying_ whilst Akari has her arms around his shoulders.  
  
They don’t even need to ask if they can join her before she’s beckoning them under her covers and wrapping an arm around each of them. Her main thoughts whilst this is happening is ‘ _it’s been months why now’_ and an impressive number of swears. She thought that _they_ had stopped, the last time had been just before his sixth birthday which was nearly a year ago.  
  
She should have realised that it wouldn’t be that easy, she doesn’t even have to ask what the definite nightmare was because there’s only ever been one nightmare that would get to him like this. There’s only one _damned_ nightmare that would upset him enough that Akari would drag him to the nearest elder to comfort him.  
  
Both sisters are also aware that the following day is going to be _bad_ , that Izuku won’t be able to speak for more than five minutes before reverting to sign language or the dry-erase board that’s kept in his backpack at all times.  
  
As the two settle beneath the covers with Izuku under her left arm and Akari under her right, Aguri realises that sooner rather than later, the three of them won’t fit in the bed anymore. They barely fit right now, and that’s mainly because Akari is practically lying on top of her so she can keep holding hands with Izuku. But even Izuku must be slightly cramped with how he’s squished between them and the wall, but he doesn’t complain, just hiding his face in her arm trying to stifle the sniffles that come out.  
  
Making a mental note to wash her arm later, she rubs his back to coax the tears out of him. She tells him the silliest jokes she has on hand, regales them with horror stories about high school with the lesson that they should enjoy elementary school while they can and even tries to describe the cat she saw on her way to school the other day. Unfortunately, she’s not that great at describing animals but she does get it across that it _had_ been orange but is probably still neon pink and that it had been quite friendly.  
  
Eventually, she’s finishing a fresh horror about the _lunches_ she sees at school before she realises that the two kids had fallen asleep again. Akari slowly slipping ever closer to just sleeping on Izuku and Izuku with one arm wrapped tightly around Aguri’s arm whilst his other hand has her night shirt in a loose grip.  
  
So, doing her best to relax with the two six year olds taking up most of her bed, she tries to fall back to sleep. She shuffles around slightly to get as comfortable as she can, she can vaguely feel Akari sliding more onto Izuku and when she opens her eyes to check, her head is caught between his shoulder and her arm.

_Oh well,_ she’s slept in more uncomfortable positions, she’ll be fine.  
  
~~~  
  
Izuku and Akari both stare up at Akari’s tutor, Nanami-Sensei, both of them trying to hold the same pose she’s standing in seemingly _easily_ whilst the two of them wobble slightly. When the instructor had said they’d be improving their balance, this is not what they expected. They had expected something like standing on a beam off the ground or hopping around, which is definitely not what they were doing right now with the occasional comment from the black haired teacher.  
  
Admittedly, the two of them weren’t able to do the _actual_ pose yet, not quite flexible enough to bend themselves that way. But the easier stance was still difficult to hold. One hand outstretched behind them, one finger on the tip of their nose as they leant forward with one leg bending backwards as far as it’d go. Izuku was not jealous that Akari could get her foot slightly higher in the pose than he could, not at all.  
  
At least they’d both giggle whenever Nanami-Sensei squished her nose and crossed her eyes as she poked her tongue out. Each giggle causing them both to wobble more. And each giggle got a quiet “no giggling yet.”  
  
It felt like it had been _ages,_ but the timer to the side proved that fact wrong as it had yet to hit ten minutes. At least once the ten minutes were up, they could fall over and rest their aching muscles. Izuku never knew standing still could make your muscles hurt _this much!  
  
_ As soon as the timer struck zero, letting out a soft ‘beep-beep-beep’ Izuku collapsed into a heap, wincing as he started to rub his thighs. Akari on the other hand, slowly lowered her foot to the ground then wiggled her hips to try and ease some of the tension in her body. It didn’t really work, but Nanami-Sensei seemed to get a kick out of their reactions to the new time. Maybe next time they’ll listen to her advice when they say they can handle a bigger challenge. The almost pitiful groans from Izuku were definitely on the slightly over-dramatic side at least, so he’ll be fine in a minute or two.  
  
Akari on the other hand, definitely seemed ready to keep going with the more physical lessons right then and there at least. She could definitely tell who put more effort into their homework out of the two, but considering one of them was now doing all of their schooling at home whilst the other was still going to school did give one an advantage over the other.  
  
As she handed both of them bottles of water, Akari calmly drinking from it whilst Izuku groaned as he sat up before greedily gulping at the bottle, ignoring Nanami’s advice to drink slowly. So, when Izuku inevitably choked on his water, spilling it over himself, he had been warned.   
  
Akari just laughed at him, sticking her tongue out at her wet friend, which Izuku returned from his spot on the floor, arms gently dripping water onto the mat he _had_ been standing on.   
  
When Nanami had taken on this side job, she had not expected to enjoy it as much as she was. The two quirkless kids were bright, energetic and so endearingly cheerful and determined that she sometimes found herself getting caught up in their flow. Even if Izuku wasn’t that interested in acting as a career, he had an almost natural talent for it.   
  
A natural talent that Akari matched and then bested, the young girl absorbed the lessons like a sponge and flourished whilst Izuku had to give it a few more tries. She was also taking to the gymnastics the pair had wanted to do like a duck to water. Nanami honestly didn’t know how much more she could teach the girl without actual experience on the stage or in front of a camera.   
  
Was she ready? Quite possibly, there were auditions coming up for a film that’d need a child Akari’s age, and with her backing that’d definitely help the girl. She’d have to ask both her parents and older sister if that was alright.   
  
When Izuku finished his water, Nanami grinned as she slid into a new pose.   
  
“Now, let’s hold this for five minutes then switch to gymnastics.”   
  
~~~   
  
December was the _best_ month, Izuku usually thought. There was time off school, there were all kinds of holidays and there’d be all kinds of decorations _everywhere_ . Last year there had even been snow! He and Achan had made snowmen of each other!   
  
This year, December is not as fun. Most of each day was dedicated to homework or playing by himself.   
  
Izuku was happy for his friend! He really was! But it was lonely without her around and he couldn’t visit as often as he liked because the filming was happening an entire _two prefectures over!_ Mom couldn’t afford the tickets often enough and Aguri’s and Achan’s allowance wasn’t enough for regular visits.   
  
The only time they got to see each other was over video call in the evenings and Izuku _hated_ it! He wanted to see his best friend! And give her hugs and draw with her and play!   
  
Sometimes mom would get texts with pictures or videos of Achan on set, but it wasn’t the same since he couldn’t talk to her directly. Only ever through mom and Nanami-sensei. Which, in Izuku’s expert opinion, sucked.   
  
Not even when they tried to hug through video call helped replicate the closeness they missed.   
  
Their last visit had been for Achan’s seventh birthday, she still had to film but it had been a relatively light filming day for her. And she’d shown them around her dressing room and the studio and had loved her present from him. Which had been a _hand drawn_ poster for her debut film as Haruna Mase. But with Achan as the focal point front and centre.   
  
His mom had gotten her a matched present with him, a pair of bracelets that they had to wear on each wrist. And when they tested them, by pressing their own bracelets together, the other’s would light up to show _they were thinking of each other_ .   
  
Which had them both crying, especially since it’d still work when they were _countries_ apart. They’d spent the next few hours testing it out almost every minute and watching the other’s wrists light up.   
  
_Hopefully they could visit for Christmas,_ Izuku thought, subconsciously brushing his wrists together.   
  
He missed his best friend.   
  
Izuku smiled at the soft glow when it appeared.   
  
At least the distance wasn’t hurting their precious friendship. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technically, it's before a second?  
> Yeah, I know I'm horrendously late, but stuff came up, like me losing my entire backlog of pre-prepared chapters (which I haven't replaced yet) which did demotivate me a little, it wasn't a good feeling. And a few other IRL things.  
> BUT ITS HERE! Chapter six! Fresh off the presses! And I HAVE started on chapter seven, not gotten that far in it yet but hopefully it won't be another half a year between updates!  
> My favourite bit of this to write had been the night time scene, it was such a fun and cute scene to do.  
> I can't give a date for the next update, but lets aim for before September!


End file.
